He didn't need a mid-life crisis to start jumping out of things — he was there years ago.
Former Army, current fire and rescue, and somewhere in the middle of all that he picked up paramotoring and skydiving the way most people pick up a new podcast. He's one of the reasons any of this seemed like a remotely reasonable idea in the first place — patient enough to talk a nervous 55-year-old through his first flight without laughing (out loud)... maybe.
Wife, kids, a job that already involves pulling people out of trouble — and word is he's eyeing a spot on the dive team next, because apparently dry land and solid ground were starting to feel a little too safe.
The guy who treated one student's schedule like it was the only one that existed. When the right gear wasn't sitting in the hangar, he went out and got it — then stayed in the loop through every single training day to make sure nothing slipped through the cracks.
Owner of Carolina PPG, the USPPA-certified school that hosts training at Richmond County Airport in Rockingham, NC — and living proof the school exists because he refuses to let "we don't have that" be the last word.
Doesn't talk a big game. Just shows up, solves the problem, and hands you the keys.
Retired US Navy — started as an avionics technician (same starting point as Stacey, oddly enough), then spent years as a flight crew member aboard the P3 Orion before finishing his career as a SERE instructor.
If "survive, evade, resist, escape" doesn't sound like paramotor-instructor material, it turns out it's exactly the right resume for teaching someone to trust a wing, a motor, and their own judgment. The one in the field who'll tell you the truth and then make you better.
These days he's a USPPA-qualified PPG instructor — the guy who actually signed off Stacey's PPG1 & 2 ratings. Patient enough to talk a nervous 55-year-old through his first real flights, and qualified enough that it wasn't reckless to try.